''The Tale of Shim Chong'' () is a 1985

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...

directed by

Shin Sang-ok Shin Sang-ok ( ko, 신상옥; born Shin Tae-seo; October 11, 1926 – April 11, 2006) was a South Korean filmmaker with more than 100 producer and 70 director credits to his name. His best-known films were made in the 1950s and 60s, many of them ...

. It is based on the traditional story of the same name. The story is of Shim Chong, the daughter of a poor blind farmer. The peasant signs a deal with a monk to deliver 300 sacks of rice in return of his sight, but is unable to deliver the goods. Shim Chong agrees to be sacrificed to the

God of the Sea A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important. Ano ...

on behalf of sailors who need to appease the deity. She is thrown into the sea and meets the god who praises her for her

filial piety In Confucianism, Chinese Buddhism, and Daoist ethics, filial piety (, ''xiào'') (Latin: pietas) is a virtue of respect for one's parents, elders, and ancestors. The Confucian ''Classic of Filial Piety'', thought to be written around the late W ...

. Shim Chong returns to the surface inside a giant orchid that fishermen take to the king of the land. The king falls in love with her and helps her find her desperate father who has gone missing by organizing a feast for all the blind people in the kingdom. ''The Tale of Shim Chong'' was made when Shin and his wife

Choi Eun-hee Choi Eun-hee (; November 20, 1926 – April 16, 2018) was a South Korean actress, who was one of the country's most popular stars of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1978, Choi and her then ex-husband, movie director Shin Sang-ok, were abducted to North ...

, who plays the part of Shim Chong's mother, were abducted to North Korea. The two were allowed to complete the filming of the underwater sequences of the film at the

Bavaria Film Studios Bavaria Studios are film production studios located in Munich, the capital of the region of Bavaria in Germany, and a subsidiary of Bavaria Film. History The studios were constructed in the suburb of Geiselgasteig in 1919 shortly after the Firs ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. The negatives of the film went missing for some time, before Shin re-discovered them in

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

. ''The Tale of Shim Chong'' has been likened with the work of

Busby Berkeley Busby Berkeley (born Berkeley William Enos; November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. Berke ...

Plot

Shim Chong is the daughter of a poor blind farmer whose wife has died. Her father visits a temple one day and is told by a monk that his blindness could be cured in exchange for 300 sacks of rice. The farmer agrees to supply the sacks, but soon realizes that he is not able to. Meanwhile, a group of sailors lament that they have angered the

. The only way to appease the god is to sacrifice a young girl. Shim Chong agrees to be the sacrificial offering if the sailors provide the sacks of rice her father is missing and some money. Once the farmer finds out about this deal he unsuccessfully tries to stop Shim Chong. Shim Chong is taken to the sea in the sailors' ship and thrown overboard. The seas immediately calm. Shim Chong sinks to the bottom of the sea and meets the God of the Sea. The god has been waiting for her to arrive in his realm and praises her for her filial piety. In the underwater world, Shim Chong also meets her deceased mother. Shim Chong leaves the world of the God of the Sea by floating to the surface inside a giant orchid. A group of fishermen discover the orchid and take it to the king who rules the land. Shim Chong emerges from the orchid and the king falls in love with her. Shim Chong, however, can only think about her father who has gone missing. It turns out he had found a new woman, but the woman cheats her and takes all of the money that Shim Chong had asked from the sailors. The king helps Shim Chong find her father by organizing a feast for all blind people in his kingdom. When Shim Chong recognizes her father at the feast, he miraculously regains his eyesight.

Cast

acts the part of Shim Chong's mother.

Themes

The theme is of suffering and

Production

''The Tale of Shim Chong'' was directed by

while he and his wife Choi Eun-hee were abducted to North Korea. It is in the genre of a

. The story is based on an ancient Korean folk tale

The Tale of Sim Chong ''The Story of Sim Cheong'' or ''The Tale of Shim Ch'ŏng'' () is a Korean classical novel about a filial daughter named Sim Cheong. ''Simcheongga'', the ''pansori'' version, performed by a single narrator, is believed to be the older version of ...

about a princess of a realm at the bottom of the sea. Shin had already made a film based in the story in 1972 in South Korea. The underwater world is populated by dancers in exotic outfits. Although they are masked, their way of dancing gives away the fact that they are Western actors. This otherworldly realm is contrasted with the kingdom on dry land, which is inhabited by people acted by Koreans. With the permission of

Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...

, Shin and Choi traveled to the

, where they shot the underwater sequences of the film. Shin was helped in special effects by the team that made the film ''

The NeverEnding Story ''The Neverending Story'' (german: Die unendliche Geschichte) is a fantasy novel by German writer Michael Ende, published in 1979. The first English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was published in 1983. The novel was later adapted into several f ...

''. Shin and Choi's every move in Munich was followed by seven North Korean bodyguards. Nevertheless,

Johannes Schönherr Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...

, the author of '' North Korean Cinema: A History'' raises the question why they did not try to defect in a city that was in the West, where it would have been comparatively easy at any rate. Instead, Shin and Choi returned to North Korea after the filming was complete. The film was released in 1985, the same year that he directed ''

Pulgasari ''Pulgasari'' () is a 1985 North Korean horror-action kaiju film directed by Shin Sang-ok. It stars Chang Son Hui and Pak Sung Ho and features special effects by Duk Ho Kim, supervised by Teruyoshi Nakano. The film centers around the legend of ...

'' and saw the release of his film ''

Salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

''. Shin sent the negatives of ''The Tale of Shim Chong'' to Kim Guh-wha, a Shin Film representative in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

to add Chinese subtitles. Kim was the man whom, as Shin later discovered, had handed him over to North Korean agents in Hong Kong in 1978. The negatives went missing at some point. Shin rediscovered the negatives when he visited Kim Jong-il's film archives in Pyongyang.

Critical response

Carmen Miranda in The Gang's All Here (1943)

Paul Fischer, the author of '' A Kim Jong-Il Production'' likens it with the work of

, calling it "an extravagant musical ... with fantasy creatures, expensive costumes, and underwater scenes".

References

Works cited

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tale of Shim Chong, The 1985 films Films directed by Shin Sang-ok 1980s Korean-language films North Korean drama films Films shot in Munich Films shot in North Korea